08/19/2026
I found this in another group and thought it was great info to share π
Do You Know Your Conversion Rate?
We hear a lot about conversion rates when talking about websites and online sales.
But do you know your conversion rate at an in-person show?
You probably should.
Conversion rate is simply the percentage of people who see your product and ultimately buy it.
If 1,000 people walk past your booth and 20 make a purchase, that's roughly a 2% conversion rate.
Knowing that number can completely change how you evaluate an event.
I've been selling candles long enough to know that my normal conversion rate at a good event is around 2%.
I also have another rule of thumb I've learned from experience. I subtract about 0.5% for every additional candle vendor at the show.
So when an organizer tells me, "We had 5,000 people attend last year," I don't automatically hear 5,000 potential customers.
I start doing math.
At 2%, 5,000 people potentially represents about 100 transactions.
Add three or four other candle companies selling to the same audience, and that opportunity can look very different.
Of course, conversion rate isn't an exact science at an in-person event.
Not everyone who attends walks past your booth. Product type matters. Booth location matters. Price matters. Weather matters. The type of crowd matters. Competition matters.
But that's exactly why tracking your own numbers is so valuable.
Over time, you stop asking:
"Was it busy?"
And start asking:
"Did the right people show up?"
A packed event can be a terrible show.
A smaller event can be incredibly profitable.
If you're a vendor, start keeping track of attendance estimates, your number of transactions, average sale, booth fee, and how many direct competitors were there.
After enough shows, patterns start appearing.
Your conversion rate becomes another tool for deciding which events deserve your time and money next year.
Crowd size sounds impressive on an application.
Conversion tells you whether that crowd matters to your business.